British and Irish Lions centre Brian O'Driscoll has urged his teammates to endure an early "purple patch" against Combined Country on Tuesday.
The tourists fell behind early on in their 22-12 victory over the Queensland Reds on Saturday, and Country have been tipped to implement a similar starting strategy.
The Ireland international, who will skipper the side in Newcastle, wants his side to seize control of the match in the early stages of the encounter.
"For sure, teams will try to come out of the blocks very quickly against us and try to get some points on the board," O'Driscoll told BBC Sport.
"But we can't be adopting the mentality of trying to soak up pressure. I think we've got to try to feel we can have a purple patch in that first 20 minutes as well, we can take our game to the opposition."
The Lions' clash with Combined Country gets underway at 10.30am.
Written by
Matt Cotton
Matt Cotton
